WFDF excited for Beach Ultimate to be included in the inaugural ANOC World Beach Games

27 October 2016

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) Board of Directors has reacted enthusiastically to the announcement that the initial edition of the ANOC World Beach Games (WBG) in 2019 will include the Flying Disc sport of Beach Ultimate. The San Diego Organizing Committee for the WBG have released the list of 19 sports being included in their sports programme for the initial edition of these games, all of which are different disciplines to any contested in the Olympic programme. The announcement followed meetings between San Diego and ANOC officials at last month’s Asian Beach Games in Danang. San Diego has proposed that the event be held from 10-20 October 2019.

“The ANOC World Beach Games in 2019 will be the highlight of WFDF´s Beach Ultimate calendar in 2019 and we are pleased and proud to be included by ANOC and the San Diego organizers of the Games,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “ Beach Ultimate has been growing exponentially since our first world championship in 2004, and our board has confirmed that the 2017 WFDF World Championships of Beach Ultimate in association with BULA (WCBU) being held in June 2017 in Royan, France will serve as the qualification event for the WBG.” As announced previously, the WCBU 2017 attracted a record breaking numbers of bids by 200 teams across more than 40 national member associations, with the event capped at 120 teams.

“It is a nice coincidence that the iconic Flying Disc was invented and originally produced out of Southern California, and what better place to showcase our sport but on the beach. This is the first world championship hosted by the Association of National Olympic Committees, and it is indeed an honor to be included with so many other sports so well suited for play on the sand in the sun by the ocean.”

WFDF Beach Ultimate Committee chair José Pirès acknowledged that the postponement of the initial edition of the ANOC World Beach Games from 2017 to 2019 will allow for WFDF to stay with the event cycle and use the WCBU 2017 as the qualifying event. “This will make sure that the best Beach Ultimate teams and athletes will participate in these Games and that all teams participating in the event will be fully prepared.”

Latest WFDF Communiques

The World Flying Disc Federation Board (WFDF) Executive Committee, Board members, Committee and Commission Chairs, Continental Representatives and staff come together for two and a half days of strategic discussions that will set the tone for Flying Disc for years to come.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring together a team of twenty WFDF board and key staffers for intense and productive discussions in New York City at our board meeting and strategic planning session this weekend,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “The WFDF board and staff are located across 12 different countries across global time zones and getting together primarily occurs during our monthly board meetings via a conference call. The 30 hours of meeting time this weekend significantly increases the productivity of discussions, reduces time in making decisions, and improves the work input, while building on the strength and comradeship of the WFDF key heads, making this meeting very important. ”

WFDF’s mission statement “to support and promote the global advancement of disc sports and spirit of the game” will be top of mind in all discussions as the group takes direct input and feedback from key representatives from multiple continents representing all the different Flying Disc Sports: Ultimate, Beach Ultimate, Disc Golf, Freestyle, Guts and Individual Overall Sports.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), in cooperation with the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), is releasing the second edition of the world rankings for disc golf by country. USA remain the top ranked team in the world, followed by Canada, Finland, New Zealand and Estonia.The criteria for ranking countries are a combination of performance at WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships and the PDGA ratings for top male and female players.

“The second edition of the WFDF World Disc Golf Rankings marks another significant step forward for WFDF members and countries affiliated with PDGA,” said Charlie Mead, the WFDF Disc Golf Committee chair.“As the criteria for ranking becomes known to the wider disc golf-playing world, National Associations are focusing their attention on how to move up the list. The inclusion of more women and juniors in the calculations for some countries has made a positive difference to their position.”

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has announced the results of its 2018 elections. This comes after the international federation recognized by the IOC for Flying Disc sports had executed a major revamp of its governance structure and Board composition that had been unanimously approved by the WFDF membership in the autumn of 2018. Among other positions, the membership re-elected Robert “Nob“ Rauch as President for an additional two-year term.

“WFDF is excited about the revisions to our governance structure with the expansion of the Board of Directors, bringing in the heads of our Continental associations and formalizing several other ex-officio positions. We are also extremely pleased to have increased the number of women on the Board to seven out of the eighteen members as we continue to pursue gender equality in our goverenance structure as well as in our competitive events,”commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that it has launched its new wfdf.sport domain name and related portfolio under the “.sport” domain name program initiated and managed by the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) to which WFDF belongs as a member.

“In today´s internet world of so many domain names and extensions, WFDF´s use of the wfdf.sport domain will provide much greater visibility and searchability for the Flying Disc community names. Using the strict criteria applied by GAISF enhances the legitimacy and credibility of Flying Disc‘s public communications and makes us a member of the exclusive ‘.sport‘ community,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that its Congress has approved the Flying Disc Associations of Kazakhstan, Malta, Sri Lanka, and U.S. Virgin Islands as its newest Member associations, increasing WFDF’s membership to 84 national member associations.

“WFDF is proud to welcome the four new member associations to the WFDF flying disc family concluding the latest admission process overseen by our Executive Director Volker Bernardi,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has approved VC Ultimate as the WFDF Official Apparel Supplier and Partner for 2019-2022. VC Ultimate, based in Toronto, Canada, receives the exclusive opportunity to develop and sell selected official event merchandise and apparel for the WFDF Ultimate Championship events for the four-year term.In return, this partnership will provide benefits to the players and teams, event organizers and to WFDF. VC Ultimate will also continue to work with WFDF to develop and market WFDF-branded gear to be sold through their Canadian, American and European online stores.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has approved Discraft as the WFDF Official Disc Supplier and Partner for 2019-2022. Discraft Inc., based in Michigan, USA, will receive the exclusive rights to produce “Official WFDF Ultimate Discs” for sale through merchandise channels and will be the supplier of the “Official Game Discs” during all WFDF Ultimate Championship events during this four-year period. It will also include sponsorship of the WFDF World Team Disc Golf and Freestyle Championships. In return, this partnership will provide benefits to both WFDF and its sanctioned event organizers. For events, Discraft will provide discounted rates on the purchase of discs for event sales and a number of official game discs. It will also provide discs and sponsorship funding to support WFDF’s development programs and general activities.

WFDF is pleased to announce that the WFDF 2020 World Masters Ultimate Championships (WMUC 2020) will be staged in Gold Coast, Australia from Saturday 5th September to Saturday 12th September 2020 at the Runaway Bay Sport Precinct. The tournament organizing committee (TOC) is WFDF member national federation the Australian Flying Disc Association (AFDA), which had hosted the WFDF 2018 World Under-24 Ultimate Championships and the WFDF 2006 World Ultimate Club Championships with great success.

“We are thrilled to receive a great bid from an experienced Tournament Organizer to host the inaugural stand-alone National Team event for masters-aged athletes following the great participation we had at the Masters Club championships held this past summer in Canada,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “It is great to showcase these masters’ athletes, and provide an opportunity for them to continue to complete at the highest level over the course of their lives. Many thanks to our tournament organizing committee, AFDA, the City of Gold Coast and Tourism Events Queensland who are working together to make WMUC 2020 a remarkable event.”

Today, on International Spirit of the Game Day, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) releases its updated list of Spirit of the Game scores by country. This list aggregates scores received by countries attending WFDF World Championships and continental championships for Ultimate over the past four years (see complete list below). New to the list: Argentina, Cambodia, Currier Island, Guam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama and Thailand. The full list of 57 countries in alphabetical order follows.

“People sometimes talk of ‘winning’ Spirit, but the truth is that Spirit of the Game isn’t winner-takes-all. The better each country does at Spirit of the Game, the more every country benefits, and the better it is for the sport as a whole,” said Travis Smith, chair of the WFDF Spirit of the Game Committee. “We hope that by gathering, tracking and sharing detailed data about Spirit performance, we can help our members and their athletes to assess and improve their Spirit of the Game.”

WFDF is pleased to announce that the WFDF 2019 All Africa Ultimate Championships (AAUC 2019) will be staged in Johannesburg, South Africafrom Friday 14th to Monday 17th June, 2019 at the East Rand Polo Club.

AAUC will contest the mixed division and expects over 10 national/ club teams from around the Continent to participate.